Now that the school year is underway, we’re in full swing of conference season, and we’re really excited about the T + L conference in Denver this October 28 - 29.

Stay tuned on BrainPOP Educators for more details about special BrainPOP events happening (we’re having lots of fun planning!). For now, check out this great write up about note-taking with BrainPOP.

BrainPOP Nuggets of Knowledge

Great name!

Coming to T + L in Denver? Let us know, and be sure to stop by our booth and introduce yourself as a BrainPOP Educator!

I came across two articles today that I thought I’d share.

I thought this was a really uplifting story about how a middle school within the low-ranking Tennessee school system is boosting students’ love of learning with technology. Read all about it!

More and more accredited e-schools are popping up, and I’m always interested to read about how it works. Here’s how a family came to the decision of switching from a neighborhood public school to a public, state-funded e-school.  Take a look!

Both articles capture current trends in education. What do you think? Can you relate to either of these experiences?

I love librarians! A great librarian can be the heart of a school. Check out this fantastic opportunity to nominate your librarian (by answering 5 questions about how the individual has had an impact on them or their community). Up to ten librarians will each receive $5,000 and be recognized at an awards ceremony hosted by The New York Times at The Times Center in December 2009! The deadline is coming up quickly — October 9, 2009. Go for it!

Details at Grant Wrangler, a helpful, free resource to rely on when looking for grants and funding opportunities for education.

A few more tips…

• If you only have one computer for the class you can take a tour of the site together. After watching the tour you can use an interactive whiteboard and ask student volunteers to click on different features and explore them as a group.

• Make it fast and easy for kids to log in. Create a url so students are automatically logged in. Or, add BrainPOP or BrainPOP Jr as a bookmark on your browser’s toolbar. Just go to the homepage and then click on the tiny Moby face at the top of the window (this may be on a tab if you have several tabs open). Then drag the icon to an empty space on your bookmark toolbar. You can also do this with specific movies you’d like kids to view. We’ve also got typeable Subscriber Stickers you can print and stick on or next to each computer monitor. Big help when you’ve got a classroom full of Kindergarteners who all want your help logging in at the same time.

• You can build BrainPOP or BrainPOP Jr. into your class routines starting in September! For example you can use BrainPOP Jr.’s Belly Up comic as a shared reading for K-3 students. Start by introducing the topic and reading the Belly Up together, modeling fluency and expression. Use the Print feature to make copies available for each of your students or partnerships. Kids can take turns reading the speech bubbles for the characters. For older kids you can use the Cassie and Rita comics from the FYI features to introduce students to new topics.

What’s worked for you? How did you introduce BrainPOP to your students? Share below!

I imagine that most of you have been spending lots of time building your classroom community and establishing routines. I wanted to share some tips for introducing BrainPOP to your students and weaving BrainPOP into classroom routines — the kind of stuff I kick myself for not thinking of when I was in the classroom! I’d love to hear if you’ve got any tips to share. I’ll continue to add more suggestions throughout the rest of the month.

Ways to Get BrainPOP Up and Running in Your Classroom

• If you haven’t used computers as a class before, discuss the expectations for this new routine. How many computers are there in the classroom? How will students work on them? Will they work alone, in small groups, or in partners? Will they use headphones to listen to the movies, will they watch them on individual computers or will you watch as a whole class? Where will they print out their work?

• It’s always helpful to review how to use the Internet. We’ve got just the thing! Free all month, our Spotlight on Digital Citizenship will cover everything from Online Safety to Digital Etiquette, to Cyberbullying. For younger students check out BrainPOP Jr’s movie on Internet Safety.You may want to download BrainPOP’s Internet Safety Poster from the Just For Fun page on BrainPOP Educators to help facilitate this discussion. What are the rules and regulations in your classroom for computer work?

• As with all new tools in your classroom, your students will probably be excited and curious about all the components of BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. Be sure to give students time to explore the site on their own. This reduces their need to “surf” the site later on, and will familiarize them with the various features and overall interface. Guide their exploration with questions or challenges. Can they use the search feature to find movies on specific topics? What are the three options for the POPQuiz? What happens when they scroll over the words on BrainPOP Jr? Can they find the Big Word Wall? Have them report back to the group to share what they discovered.

Did you find these tips helpful? Got any to add? Please post comments!

It’s been great to see all these creative ways teachers and administrators get the word out to their staff to ensure they don’t miss out on BrainPOP. Here are a few examples I found recently.

Robert Miller created a dedicated page of his class website filled with information for his students, families, and peers with a great name: Your Daily Dose of BrainPOP! And Josh and Reagan, two students in the class, created POP Blog with information on how extra credit can be earned using BrainPOP!

Mr. Coley embedded the Featured Movie of the Week on his class website.

Seattle Homeschooling for the Beginner Examiner embedded our Moby widget!

Teachers Tech Blog blogs about BrainPOP!

Bryan from Taymans Tech Blog created his own BrainPOP Refresher for his middle school staff, and explained the details of their subscription so no one misses out.

and the Tweets… don’t get me started! That will get its own blog post very soon, but just a few great ideas:

Teachers who train their colleagues:

@nikilnh: Just presented features of BrainPOP teachesr may not be aware of. http://tinyurl.com/cy9k6q @brainpop

Teachers who share class updates:

Sept 11 http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/september11th/ Nice job @brainpop!

Teachers who retweet our tweets:

RT @brainpop: BrainPOP teachers available after school today!, 3:30-5,EDT, answering ?’s & brainstorming ideas. http://tinyurl.com/lnf9xj

And finally, teachers are becoming fans of BrainPOP on Facebook!

How are you implementing BrainPOP in your classroom, school or district? We’d love to hear your ideas!

Join us for this week’s Wednesday Webinar, designed specifically for Media and Integration Specialists.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009
4:00 pm EDT
Duration: 1 hour

Are you responsible for integrating BrainPOP with your school or districts’ curriculum and content area teachers? Learn how to make the most of your BrainPOP subscription. We’ll show you a range of implementation tools, including the Spread the Word kit that lets your entire staff know they’ve got access to our resources. We’ll also provide you with the training materials you need to ensure high usage within your school or district. Get the lowdown on BrainPOP Educators and its free lesson plans, video tutorials, graphic organizers, and more.

RSVP - space fills up quickly!

We hosted our first after school online chat on Friday. It was pretty great! We even had a special guest join in (hint - the woman behind the voice of Annie!).  Here are some ideas that came out of it.  We’ll continue these online chats every Friday after school. Join us this Friday, September 18, from 3:30 - 5:00pm, EDT. We’ll be happy to answer questions & brainstorm ideas for integration.

*Make sure you and your colleagues register on BrainPOP Educators so you don’t miss out on free tips, tools, and resources!

*Let colleagues know about BrainPOP ESL for second language learners, FREE during beta phase!

*Professional Development Resources:

Graphic organizers for planning out a BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. topic over an entire week, shared by Robert Miller
http://www.brainpop.com/educators/professional_development/

*Resources for new users:

http://www.brainpop.com/educators/new_subscribers/

*Grant Writing Resources:

- Funding BrainPOP

- BrainPOP Effectiveness Study

- www.donorschoose.org
- www.grantwrangler.com
- www.ing-usa.com

*Consider BrainPOP for after school programs!

*Familiarize yourself with all of the interactive features on BrainPOP with our webinars

*Ideas for BEFORE viewing movie:
-POP Quiz (pre-assessment)
-review Vocabulary activity page (BrainPOP)
-review Word Wall (BrainPOP Jr.)
-use FYI as shared reading in small groups or as a class
-Cassie & Rita comic (FYI)
-Belly Up comic (BrainPOP Jr.)

*Ideas for DURING the movie:
-print Activity Pages in advance - use for scaffolding, note-taking…
-Pause & discuss! Tons of opportunities to make students active participants while viewing
–> ask questions, make predictions, activate prior learning, etc…

*Ideas for AFTER the movie:

Here’s where we left off. What do you like to do after viewing BrainPOP movies? Share your ideas!

We’ll be hosting our first after school, online chat tomorrow. Kari, Laura and I will be available to answer questions, brainstorm ideas for integrating BrainPOP into your curriculum, and anything else you might need to support you in using getting the most out of any of our products.

Join us!

Friday, September 11, 2009

3:30 - 5:00pm, EDT

Drop in and say hello!

Welcome back to school, everyone. I hope you’re off to a fantastic start. I wanted to spend some time catching you up on our latest news and features, so you can take using BrainPOP to a new level this year! And it’s all FREE! A big part of me wants to go back to the classroom, just so I can use BrainPOP in all these new ways that I hadn’t thought of when I was teaching.

I’ll go into more depth with some of these features in the next few weeks, but for now, here’s a rundown!

Research - How does BrainPOP impact student achievement? Read the research.

BrainPOP ESL - Check out our newest product for English language learners and teachers. Free while in beta phase!

Getting Started - New to BrainPOP? We’ve got everything you need to be up and running in no time.

Spread the Word - Let your staff and community know you’ve got BrainPOP with our implementation tools.

Webinars - Whether you’re a new or experienced user, you are sure to gain fresh ideas from our webinars. RSVP for upcoming webinars or watch our archived webinars at your convenience.

Curriculum Calendar - Just published this summer, our calendar makes planning a breeze. Get a heads up on timely topics you can weave right into your curriculum, and access our Spotlights to help plan out your year.

Funding BrainPOP - Resources to help you fit BrainPOP into your funding strategy.

Spotlights - Find a ton of resources to launch into these important back-to-school topics: Digital Citizenship (free during September) and Science Skills.

Special Back to School Promotions - Upgrade, renew, and save on Media Lab and multi-year District and School Subscriptions. For details, please contact our District Relations team.

It’s crazy how quickly we have to shift from summer to school. I remember how intense and draining September can be. It’s my hope that the resources we offer on BrainPOP Educators can make your lives just a bit easier, while enriching your students’ education with a quality resource. Here’s to a happy, healthy school year!